Do you really believe that there was nothing and then the vacuum fluctuated and bang, all the sudden matter came into existence? (Or that matter came into existence from nothing any other way?) If a impressionable youngster who looked up to you asked you "Did all matter really come to be from absolutely nothing with a big bang due to natural process?" would you say "Yes"? I'm aware of lots of conjectures about what caused the big bang ore what happened "before," but I'm not aware of any positive assertions that would show up in a textbook as fact. Much of what shows up on TV science channels has been scripted by the science equivalent of ad writers. The shows are designed to attract an audience rather than to educate.
It is much safer to talk about the history of the universe after the big bang than before.
Said js1138:
I'm aware of lots of conjectures about what caused the big bang ore what happened "before,"..
You mean like, for example, the conjectures that Berkeley is
teaching?
They quite clearly describe the vacuum as having fluctuated and creating a singularity. Now pardon me, but this is obviously what Berkeley teaches - are you telling me that Berkeley isn't teaching their students that? The fact is that schools from gradeschools to universities across the country are teaching that the big bang is the best theory and is believed to be true, and you are trying to downplay it because you know it's absurd but you still don't want to appear to be butting heads with decades of science.
but I'm not aware of any positive assertions that would show up in a textbook as fact.
Again, you've got to be kidding if you're telling me that schools aren't teaching the big bang as how all matter was created, and that all came from nothing. Even my old Principles of Physics Fourth Edition by Bueche says in chapter 28 "... Astrophysics is greatly hampered by the lack of our ability to perform the really crucial experiments. The most important act of all, the formation of the universe, was performed several billion years ago and is still going on. ..." The book does caution the reader that many of our interpretations (of the origin of the universe) may later proved incorrect. Of course the book is probably a couple billion years old, since it was written between 1965 and 1982. But it does assert that the formation of the universe was performed several billion years ago..!
Much of what shows up on TV science channels has been scripted by the science equivalent of ad writers. The shows are designed to attract an audience rather than to educate.
Ironically, I had actually provided you a link in my
post pointing directly to what Berkeley teaches about the big bang - and rather then addressing what a university has to say about it, you go rambling on about TV shows? I guess that's a straw man for ya!
It is much safer to talk about the history of the universe after the big bang than before.
Well if you really believed that then how come you didn't respond to my other questions in the same post -- like the questions as to whether you really believe that life came from non-life even though it's never been seen?
And I also asked about how you deal with the problem that the only way I or any thinking person can believe that ASBE (All Species By Evolution) is true is to take it on pure faith.
Anyway, I'm glad you're not teaching science.
(Even if you were teaching, it wouldn't be true science that you're teaching. It'd be a bunch of speculation that you couldn't demonstrate to anyone ever. [double wide grin])
Have a nice day anyway,
-Jesse